Users in the field are increasingly using mobile computing devices (e.g., laptop computers, personal digital assistants (‘PDAs’), personal organizers) to identify opportunities and to assist in their work. Generally, mobile computing devices store information on a local database, which is updated periodically by users during their work activities. Typically, information stored on these local databases is updated from a central database that is stored on a different system. The types of information stored on the central database may include, for example, sales contracts, service agreements, and product information that may be of value to the user in the field. In some instances, users of these mobile devices may require that subsets of the central database be copied to their mobile devices and be accessible in the field. However, the copying of these subsets may cause certain problems. For example, the mobile device user may have changed or added additional information (e.g., added notes regarding a particular customer or notes regarding a particular product) to the local database stored on the mobile device while in the field. The user may require essential updates from the central database and yet not want this customized information deleted or overwritten during the update process.
Similarly, software vendors periodically update their software programs and databases of information and send these updates to their customers. Customers also may have spent considerable amounts of time customizing software programs and database information on their mobile devices. Both software vendors and customers require the software vendor updates and yet customers may not want their customizations on the mobile device local database to be deleted or overwritten by the update process.